Tag Archives: Retail

Lockdown Reading: Welsh Saints on the Mormon Trail

Posted on July 20, 2020 by

When we were living in the USA in 2000-1 we flew to Jackson Hole in Wyoming via Salt Lake City.  That last flight to Jackson Hole was the most unpleasant flight I’ve taken before or since, shaken and bounced over … Continue reading →

Posted in Ajax Underground Store, Buildings, Catalogues, Cooperatives, Department Stores, Emigration, Historic Shops, History, Mormons, Places, Retail History, Retailers, Retailing, Uncategorized, USA, Wales, Zion Co-operative Mercantile Institution | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Confidence, Cash and Friction: Shopping in Scotland

Posted on June 29, 2020 by

So, shops (well those not cooped up in an indoor shopping centre) in Scotland are now open. The long road back to re-opening the economy has taken another step forward, and one result is a gigantic queue outside a city … Continue reading →

Posted in Cash, Click and Collect, Consumer Change, Consumers, Convenience, Covid19, Employees, Friction, High Streets, Home Delivery, Internet shopping, Lockdown, Online Retailing, Opening Hours, Queuing, Retail Change, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Retailing, Shopping, Shopping Centres, Social Distancing, Town Centres, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Christmas and more in March – but only for some

Posted on April 1, 2020 by

On the 31st March, Kantar released their data on the last four weeks of grocery sales and the figures were eye-watering, outperforming Christmas sales and periods. March was the biggest month of grocery sales in the UK ever recorded. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Alcohol, Christmas, Community Grocer, Consumer Change, Convenience stores, Covid19, Data, Food, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Kantar, Lidl, Local Retailers, Logistics, Non-food retailing, Online Retailing, Panic buying, Restaurants, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Sainsbury, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Making Hospital Shops Healthier

Posted on February 24, 2020 by

Over the last seven or so years, for a variety of personal reasons, I have seen more of the insides of hospitals than I have wanted to.  I am not alone in this at my life stage of course.  Those … Continue reading →

Posted in Alcohol, Behavioural Economics, Consumer Lifestyle, Diet and Health, Food Retailing, Food Standards Scotland, Government, Health, Healthcare Retail Standard, Healthy Living, Hospital, Hospital Shops, Institute for Retail Studies, NHS Health Scotland, Promotion, Public Health lev, Regulation, Research, Retailers, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Tobacco, Uncategorized, University of Stirling, Well being | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Shops: More or Less (and #IndieHour)

Posted on November 11, 2019 by

This blog has a number of recurring themes – or nightmares.  Most of them are focused around the themes of the mis-use of data, the lack of reaction about the structural change underway across retailing and the unwillingness of many … Continue reading →

Posted in #IndieHour, Collaboration, Consumers, High Streets, Independents, Internet shopping, Landlords, Online Retailing, Reinvention, Relationships, Rents, Retail Change, Retailers, Small Shops, Start-ups, Towns, Uncategorized, University of Stirling, Vibrancy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hull and Beyond

Posted on November 4, 2019 by

  I’ve never knowingly been to Hull.  It’s not that I’ve anything against Hull, just that the question of going there has never arisen.  I became a little more aware of it when it owned the accolade as UK City … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, BHS, Buildings, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Department Stores, Design, Historic Shops, History, Hull, Places, Public Realm, Regeneration, Retail History, Spaces, Uncategorized, Urban History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Going Self-Service – a 70 year old revolution?

Posted on September 30, 2019 by

A few weeks ago a journalist rang and asked about the introduction of self-service retailing into the UK.  A particular question was about the way in which retailers converting to self-service in the 1940s and 1950s knew what to do … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer Change, Customer Service, Express Dairies, Food Retailing, Historic Shops, History, Retail Change, Retail History, Retail innovation, Retailers, Retailing, Self-checkout, Self-Service, Small Shops, Tesco, Uncategorized, USA | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Poundland and Sports Direct

Posted on September 9, 2019 by

It has always baffled me; if Poundland lived up to its name and everything was a pound, then why was the average basket size not a round pound number?  Anyhow it is a moot point now.  The announcement that Poundland … Continue reading →

Posted in Accounting, administration, Auditors, Closure, Department Stores, Finance, Government, House of Fraser, Jack Wills, Landlords, Mike Ashley, Poundland, Pressure, Pricing, Rents, Retail Failure, Retailers, Retailing, Sports Direct, Strategy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019

Posted on September 2, 2019 by

One of the by-products of our data rich age, is that more data is available ever more frequently.  Our attention spans have collapsed and if we don’t get a weekly, daily or hourly update then we begin to panic.  And … Continue reading →

Posted in Aldi, Asda, CMA, Competition, Competition and Markets Authority, Food, Food Retailing, Grocery, Lidl, Longitudinal Data, Market Shares, Morrisons, Retail Change, Retailers, Retailing, Sainsbury, Tesco, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Shopfronts – some recent sightings

Posted on August 26, 2019 by

Some people have been a bad influence on me: @historicshops @KA_Morrison (see Building Our Past) and @ghostsigns spring to mind. Their encyclopaedic knowledge – and delight in and willingness to share – means that I am forever on the search … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Corporate branding, Corporate History, Design, Heritage, High Streets, Historic Shops, History, Places, Public Realm, Retail History, Shopfronts, Signage, Small Towns, Spaces, Streetscapes, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban History | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments